


Enchanted Rose and the Tea Leaves of Serendipity

by Skyler10



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magic, Alternate Universe - Witchcraft, Childhood Friends, F/M, Kid Doctor, Kid rose, Magic, Tea Leaf reading
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-29
Updated: 2017-10-29
Packaged: 2019-01-26 08:44:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12553628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skyler10/pseuds/Skyler10
Summary: When they were only children, wizard-in-training John received a tea reading from a young witch named Rose, but they never forgot each other. After dreaming of each other their whole lives, they meet as adults, and it turns out those dreams weren’t simply their imaginations playing tricks on them. Not to mention, Rose is more powerful of a witch than she knows.





	Enchanted Rose and the Tea Leaves of Serendipity

**Author's Note:**

> For DoctorRosePrompts: tea leaf reading and witch!Rose

In the eyes of Rose Tyler, the entire world held moments of magic, serendipitous little wonders just waiting to be discovered. So it was fitting that she was a bit magical herself.

She had been born with the same power as her mother. Nothing important, just some domestic tricks and charms. She had never really used her power for anything important. Her mother made hair potions and cosmetics—the best in the village, according to many. Still, it wasn’t like she was a lady of any rank in the magical community.

Their humble stone cottage was a happy home, despite the loss of Rose’s father when she was seven. Pete, a wizard who tried to make a living for their little family by peddling his fantastical inventions, had died when a cart struck him in the road. The cart sped away, leaving the poor wizard’s soul in the hands of the Great Magician. Every morning while he had been away, Rose had stayed hidden in hallway outside her mother’s bedroom and listened as her mother prayed to the holy lady of magic, but the news came anyway, just as they feared.

A boy with messy brown hair, a healer’s apprentice barely older than Rose herself, had delivered his message despite the pouring rain. Of course, Jackie had invited him inside, but he couldn’t stay. He had to obey the orders of his lord master. He delivered the letter containing their worst fears and left them to their grief. Before he did, however, he sent little Rose an expression of such sorrow that Rose knew he must have read the letter he had delivered. A naughty thing to do for an errand boy, but in this case, she was glad someone else knew and that he must have taken extra care to hurry through the night to get the message to them.

The boy had returned some months later with documents for Jackie to sign, getting Pete’s affairs in order. This time, Rose took his hand in her own.

“Please, let us at least repay you for your kindness with a cuppa,” she begged, longing to know more of his world. She fluttered her eyelashes. The charm wouldn’t work on her mother as a fellow witch, but this boy was the perfect test subject. It did the trick, and he nodded and worried his lip.

“Well, alright, I suppose.” He closed his eyes for a moment.

“What are you doing?” Rose asked as her mother readied the tea.

“Calculating the time,” the boy answered with a smidge of pride. “I am studying to be a healer, but I have the Time Gift as well.”

“Lucky lad,” Jackie interjected, sending Rose a look of warning not to use him as a plaything for trying out new charms.

“I can spend half an hour, but no more,” the boy concluded. “I’m John, by the way.”

They filled that half hour getting to know each other, shyly at first, but Rose’s magic accomplished its goal of making him feel comfortable. Lulled by the warmth of the fire, the coziness of the cottage, and the hushed tones of his new friend, John opened up to Rose about his painful past—a rare occurrence for him—and his hopes to become a great and powerful healer, traveling the land and using his gift to improve the lives of its citizens. When he was finished with his tea, Rose offered to take it from him.

“Would you like a reading?” she asked. “Please say yes. Mummy won’t let me do them on my own yet, but I know how!”

John handed over his cup. Rose swirled the remaining liquid, turned it over on the saucer, and back upright when it had drained.

“Hmm,” little Rose considered the tea leaves seriously. “You will have a hard journey—”

“Of course, I will,” John interrupted. “I have to walk back to my lord master in the city.”

“I wasn’t finished yet!” she exclaimed. “Now.” She leveled him with a stern look that made him shut his mouth, which she was quickly learning could talk the tail off a rat.

“You will have a hard journey _soon_ , but success in the end.” She glanced up at him. “You’re going to fall in love with a beautiful girl, but not for a long time.”

“Good.” The boy sighed with relief.

“Hey! What’s so wrong with girls?” Rose frowned at him.

“Nothing!” he sputtered in protest. “I just can’t get married yet. I’m only eight!”

Rose nodded in understanding, being nearly eight herself.

“Well, you’re also going to meet someone powerful and that person is going to change your path. A Wolf.”

“A wolf, huh? I know some defensive spells. Suppose I could brush up on some more,” the boy shrugged. He closed his eyes again. “Blimey! It’s late! I have to go!”

He snapped back to reality. It was as if he had been under a spell, one that felt like… home. But that was impossible, as he had never known a true home. He shook off the feeling and said his goodbyes and gratitude to Rose and her mother before setting off for more duties for his lord master.

“Do you think we’ll ever see him again?” Rose asked her mother longingly.

“Something tells me we will,” Jackie mused. She wrapped an arm around her daughter’s shoulder and kissed her blonde head.

Rose sighed, her heart already aching for him to return.

\----

It had been many years since then, and Rose had blossomed into a fully-grown woman. She had become a businesswoman in her own right, selling her mother’s potions by traveling all over the countryside like her father.

Still, she could never forget the boy with the dark chocolate eyes. She frequently had dreams of him. Well, two kinds. The good dreams felt like reality: Just little moments with the two of them, memories of what could have been, perhaps. She told him about her days and the new magic she was learning, and he responded with his own. But other nights were more ominous and abstract, especially as they grew older. He had gone off to war in these nightmares. The more sleep she lost to them and to wondering what it all meant, the more desperate she became. She tried to read her own tea leaves, but it was all a mystery to her, too cryptic for even her best interpretations to make sense.

Eventually, she made up her mind to consult a professional. Her mother rolled her eyes at these city fortune tellers, waving hands ’round their crystal balls. But Rose was curious. She compromised by signing up for a workshop for young witches hoping to put their powers to use for financial gain. Lady Cassandra was well known as the best divination teacher in the land but was equally renowned for her vanity. Jackie even refused to sell her potions to the lady, knowing they would just be returned or derided. Thus, Rose told her mother she was going to town for “business” and conveniently left out the part about attending a class in hopes of getting some answers—and thus, some rest at night.  

When she reached the right café, she took in a deep breath.

 _Rose Tyler, you are a gifted witch_ , she gave herself a pep talk. _You were reading tea leaves at seven, grew an entire garden overnight at nine, and can influence the emotions of men a town away. You can do this._

She screwed up her courage and pushed open the door, except that someone was already coming out, so she pushed rather too hard just as he pulled. The two collided faster than they could avoid each other.

“Oh, I’m so sorry!” she exclaimed just as he apologized in kind. Her eyes traveled up to meet his. Those eyes. The eyes that haunted her nightmares and sweetened her dreams. She would know those eyes anywhere.

“Rose,” he breathed out in disbelief. “It is you, isn’t it?”

“Yeah,” she answered shakily, noting that he had not removed his hands from her waist where they had steadied her as they collided. He followed her gaze and quickly removed his hands from her, blushing.

“Do you remember me? I’m John, the errand boy who… well…”

“Yes, I remember.” Lest her tone be filled with too much longing, she added, “I read your tea leaves as a child. I never forget a reading.”

“Ah! Yes! I’ve been hoping I’d run into you some day.” He scratched the back of his neck. “Those were some interesting… well. Do you have time for a cuppa now? Not for a reading! Just, to chat. I’d, um, I’d love to catch up if you’re not meeting anyone?” He looked around, presumably to see if she was accompanied.

“You know, quite by coincidence, I’m perfectly free this afternoon.” Rose smiled to herself, now that the workshop was beside the point. “I would love to talk, see how things played out with that success. And if you ever got the pretty girl you were promised.”

He raised his eyebrows, “Well, no girl, though color me impressed that you still remember.”

“Told ya. I never forget a reading.” She winked, and he grinned.

\---

They reconnected as if they hadn’t spent over a decade apart. They laughed over his old fear of his lord master and Jackie’s potions gone wrong and the suspicions of their non-magical neighbors. He congratulated her on her success in business, knowing but not saying anything about how it was fitting that she fulfilled her father’s legacy.

To Rose’s great shock, John’s story of what he had been doing all this time matched exactly what he had told her in the dreams. John admitted he had already known much of what she told him as well. The dreams and nightmares had been mutual.

“They were real,” she breathed. “I mean, they felt so real, but it was really you.” Tears sprang to her eyes and she smiled to see his eyes were moist as well.

“We grew up together. Just like we wished we could have,” he laughed. “But oh, Rose, tell me the nightmares weren’t true…”

“No, I think those were normal. Or normal for us magic folk. At least, on my end?” She searched his expression and saw something she had missed earlier: a haunted ache, a life he wanted to forget.  

“In some of them, we’re separated by a white wall,” he confessed. “In others, I’m fading away on a beach. In others, you burn gold, your magic consuming you from the inside out.”

Rose shivered. “I get those too. And one where you fall into an endless pit. And one where you’re running to me, but an evil wizard’s machine curses you and you fall to the ground before you reach me. The scariest one though is where I’m falling into blinding light and you reach out your hand for me, but you can’t reach and I’m just falling forever.”

“Rose, I can promise you, I would never let any of those things happen to you.” He reached over the table and took her hand in his own, rubbing the back with his thumb.

“We hardly know each other.” She shook her head, still disbelieving he was here with her and that she was awake.  

“Is it true though? It feels like I have known you forever. And that our time physically apart has been far too long.” The depth of his words scared her, so she read his heart through his eyes. Those damn eyes. Her mother had warned her about eyes like that, the kind that could change your path. Sincerity. Purity. Honesty. Nobility. Valor. Vulnerability. Loneliness.

She gasped as her magic pushed deeper into his soul: the heartache of leaving her home that day in the midst of such a severe childhood, to have to go back to the intensity of his training, the journey long and hard not because of the distance but because of what lie on the other side… She realized what she was doing and immediately pulled herself out.

“I’m so sorry. I’ll just…” She got up to leave, but he caught her hand.

“Where are you going? I thought we’d only just begun.” He nodded to her chair. It was ok. He was forgiving her. Giving her another chance. She sat but couldn’t meet his gaze.

“I read your soul. No one is supposed to do that. It isn’t right,” she chastened herself. But he wasn’t outraged or shaming her. In fact, he was marveling at her like she was a wonder of the world.

“I don’t think you meant to. You wouldn’t.” He said it so confidently. “I know you. At least, the you that you shared with me in our dreams. I know you wouldn’t hurt anyone on purpose unless they deserved it.”

“You’re not scared of me?” Rose blushed and stared at her tea.

“You’re powerful, it’s true. But no, your strength doesn’t scare me.” His voice was so gentle, it surprised her into looking up. The kindness in his smile held her captive. “I’m in awe of you. I’ve never come across anyone, before or since, who is so accurate in their divination. It shouldn’t be possible…”

“Why not?” She was a witch, sure, but no fortune-telling expert.

 “Rose, you saw things only someone with a Time Gift should be able to. There are plenty of tea leaf readers, it’s true. But what you did was well beyond even Lady Cassandra herself. You didn’t just see a timeline. You created one.”

Rose shook her head. “How? What does that even mean?”

“It’s like this.” He pulled a string from his pocket and laid it on the table. “It’s not unusual to come across a witch or wizard who can read the dominant timestream in a person’s life. Fixed points. Things that will happen no matter what other choices that person makes. Sure, the circumstances might be different, but in the end, it will happen.”

“But you said I created a new stream?” She glanced down to the string, trying to comprehend.

“Most people never would have known. But as a student of the Time Gift, I could see it when it shifted. Your words about a powerful person changing my path were more true than you knew, Rose. You. You were my Wolf.”

“I still don’t understand.” She wanted to believe him, to trust him, but she needed more answers.

“I did receive my healing mastership. I’m a Lord Doctor. But I didn’t set up a healing center.” He leaned in. “I took on another apprenticeship, of sorts. I entered the Academy.”

Rose inhaled sharply. “The war. You used your Time Gift in the war.”

He nodded. “I did terrible things as a soldier, Rose. But you were my guiding light, in those dreams. Your friendship, the Wolf you foretold, came to me in our dreams when I needed it most. I shared my Time Gift with the counsel, and though many lives were lost, many thousands more were saved. All of us. You and your village and your mother and everyone here in this region. Because you helped me change my timeline from a mere Lord Doctor to also being a Lord of Time.” He glanced around them before setting those dark eyes on her once more. She bit her lip, deciding to reveal what she’d never told anyone else, as it hadn’t even made sense to her at the time.

“I… remember. You’d talk to me. Tell me what you were afraid of, and I’d touch your heart.” She reached out a hand to touch his chest. “And a gold light would flow from my hand to you. I never knew what I was giving, only that it was mine to give.”

He took her hand in his once more and kissed the back of it.

“On my own, I could see the possibilities, all of the time streams laid out before me,” he continued. “But you helped me choose the right one, and in the end, we were all saved. You saved the world, Rose Tyler. In your sleep.” He winked and she demurred, smiling into her shoulder.

“You make me sound like some… goddess or something. I’m not. I’m just an ordinary domestic witch. I know how to make gardens green and read tea leaves and brew potions. Not important things. Just _home_ things.”

“Sometimes home is the most important thing of all.” The longing in his voice was so raw it broke her heart. “Something to fight for.”

She squeezed his hand in understanding.

“But anyway,” he sighed and sat back in his chair, running his free hand though his hair. “the war is over. And I’m a Lord of Time now. Unlike a humble healer, this title comes with, well, everything. A manor and land and an inheritance from my forebearers. I provide consult for the Wise and Powerful, and they leave me to tend to my patients. A veteran’s pension like none other.”

“So you’re all impressive now, is that what you’ve been dying to tell me all of these years?” She teased him with a bit of her tongue poking out of the side of her smile.

“Weeeell.” He grinned and tilted his head. “Yes and no. No, I’m not trying to be rude or brag or anything. But yes, no more errand boy.” Despite his words, he looked very much the part of the lovesick schoolboy, heart in his hands and held out for her approval.

“You were always more than that to me, you know.” She dared to reach out and brush his fallen fringe back from his brow. “Even when I thought it was just a dream.”

“It was really me, Rose,” he promised, leaning into her touch.

She nodded and lowered her fingers to trace along his cheek.

“May I court you, Rose Tyler?” he rushed out. “Starting this Saturday with the Magician’s Ball?”

“I’m counting on it,” she whispered in return, realizing they were both leaning in closer. “Now that I’ve got you back, I want you in my waking life. No more nightmares.”

“No more nightmares,” he promised.

Their lips met at long last, and though they were too preoccupied to see, every flower in a 50 mile radius burst into bloom.

Jackie raised her gaze from her tea at the sudden motion of the flowers on the window box of her stone cottage. She smiled to herself as she read the tea leaves in her cup. There was no mistaking the signs of new love and happiness predicted there and who they were meant for. Who else?

 _Rose_. Her enchanted Rose.


End file.
